Senior land taxes; your county or state?????

Navotifarm · #1 08/03/10, 12:31 AM

I'm in Orange County, Virginia. The Virginia legislature has supposedly said they don't want old geezers land taken away because they cannot afford to pay land taxes. I do not know what the wording of this legislation is but I believe each county implements it differently. Orange sends me a letter in the spring which is full of personal questions but I fill it out and send it back. Then I get a letter saying I "qualify" for the senior discount because of my age and low income but ohwhatashame, my property is appraised higher than their baseline, so I do not get ANY discount. I heard some folks from Madison county complaining bitterly that the land taxes there were too big a percentage of a certain person's income. That was a new concept for me, that the land taxes ARE too big a percentage of an elderly person's income. It is skewed because sometimes older people bought property very cheaply years ago. Through no fault or effort of their own, said property is very valuable now (to a developer bringing in dozens of families requiring special services which raise the taxes).
My dogs and chickens don't ride the school bus. My needs are small as an elder with no family. So some states or counties may recognize this and NOT confiscate land for delinquent taxes from elders, maybe by putting a lien on the property to collect after the geezer croaks, or freezing the taxes at a lower rate, or amnesty. Or something.
If. Your county or state has dealt with this problem in a fair , kind, or intelligent way, I sure would like to know what they did so I can make a proposal to my board of supervisors. It just aint right that they offer a discount and then snatch it away by over-valuing the land. They don't even give a discount up to this arbitrary value. Thanks for your helpful information!

tamsam · #2 08/03/10, 01:16 AM

I have no answer for you but here in WV if you are disabled you pay no land tax. It is a huge break for us. Good luck figuring it out. Sam
Sell out and find a low tax state such as here?

sunflower-n-ks · #3 08/03/10, 04:10 AM

Kansas has a "homestead refund" for taxes if you qualify. There is a limit on what they will refund though.

http://www.ksrevenue.org/perstaxtypeshs.htm

Darren · #4 08/03/10, 04:33 AM

WV does have a homestead exemption for the elderly plus WV offers another break:

"Farmland that is used, occupied and cultivated by the owner or a bona fide tenants to be valued at the fair and reasonable value of such property for farmland use, regardless of what the value of the property would be if it was used for another purpose."

In other words a WV landowner using property for ag purposes can't be "developed" off the land by appraising it on a much higher value based on some other use and jacking the taxes sky high.

Wolf mom · #5 08/03/10, 09:38 AM

There's some sort of tax break here for elders also, but like your state, it's not worth it with the strings they attach.

Our land taxes are 16% for raw land, 10% for improved.

Lady down the road just combined two parcels so she could be taxed at 10%for all of it. They guy she bought the land from had divided it as he was gonig to sell the smaller one with no improvements, then decided to sell out completely.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who make up these laws think them through or know they're not really giving anyone a break.

Patt · #6 08/03/10, 09:40 AM

We also have a homestead exemption here in AR and it used to cover half our taxes. Now with our lower value due to the much smaller house it will cover all of them. I would like something like that better where you get a set amount of money knocked off your taxes if you qualify.

I also agree with you though that they should not be able to take away all of your Senior discount just because your property value is too high, you should only have to pay on what is over the baseline.

I would check that out, I know they tried to jack our taxes a couple of years ago when they reappraised all the properties here in the county. According to state law they can't raise taxes more than 10% per year on properties until they are sold. They more than doubled ours in one year. I looked up the law, went in and complained and they told me that if you just go ahead and pay it the first year you are stuck with the increase but if you know the law and tell them and refuse to pay then they had to set yours to only go up 10% each year. I'd be willing to bet most of the county got ripped off. I did tell everybody I knew though about it.

Pink_Carnation · #7 08/03/10, 10:05 AM

I believe in Oregon if you are elderly and you don't pay your taxes they can't take the house but will settle up when the property is sold.

I have also heard of where you can file for the assesed value to stay the same if you are old enough.

I don't know how accurate the info is but those are 2 ways to deal with it.

Navotifarm · #8 08/03/10, 10:56 AM

Thank you for these helpful answers. I know that if I were more knowledgeable, I could handle this better. Patt gives a good clue here, that there are discounts if you know how to ask for or demand them, but if you do not, they get you. I'm pretty sure our tax ladies are subverting or circumventing the intent of the legislature. I am blocking and copying all answers here (except the ones that suggest I move) so I can sort through them and write a good letter. Certainly I'm not alone with this problem. I am sure some state has resolved it fairly. If only I could know which one! With 52 states, for sure some handle it better than mine!and I'm sure some counties in Virginia do, too!!!

ChristieAcres · #9 08/03/10, 11:01 AM

We have Senior Exemptions, Disability Exemptions, and Exemptions based on Zoning, i.e. put it in Forest Exemption, 5 acre minimum, saves anyone a fair share of property tax $. "Larry" up the road has a Forest Exemption coupled with Senior Exemption, and lives on a property with a beautiful view of the Hood Canal and Olympic Mtn Range, so not value based to qualify.

Patt · #10 08/03/10, 11:23 AM

I Googled the property tax laws for here in AR. Yours may be online too.

CrashTestRanch · #11 08/03/10, 11:27 AM

My grandfather-in-law complained about taxes too, but guess what? He died a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE, left his fortune to his only grandson who was about 7 years old at the time. Who wooda-thunk-it by the way he talked.

palani · #12 08/03/10, 12:47 PM

I would suggest that you visit this site and listen to the free audios. There are probably 120 hours available but you should get the idea after listening to 30-40 hours worth.

http://www.creditorsincommerce.com/

I suspect that this approach might be more proactive than simply sitting back and waiting for the county/state to seize your land. There is no argument involved and most of the procedure is self-explanatory and non-confrontational. You will have to recognize that you are not dealing with a public entity when it comes to tax issues. Settle the issue on the private side rather than wait for a court to order a sheriff to evict you.

mnn2501 · #13 08/03/10, 01:39 PM

Not sure about where I live, but where my parents lived, once they turned 65 they could apply to have the taxes postponed until the house sold - death, nursing home, Florida bound, etc

Ramblin Wreck · #14 08/03/10, 03:22 PM

In Georgia, it varies by county. In my home county, we passed a local amendment in the 1980's that cut school property taxes by 50% at age 65 and by 100% at age 70 (for the property you lived on...not investment property). Since school taxes are the largest portion of local property taxation, it is a significant boost for elderly home owners. Some counties have different age requirements while others tie the exemption to income levels.

Jan in CO · #15 08/04/10, 02:04 PM

Here we have a senior exemption that gives you a discount, I think about 50%, however, due to budget shortfalls, no one could have it the past few years. Doesn't do much good in that case. Jan in Co

goatlady · #16 08/04/10, 10:09 PM

My county in Arkansas has a law on the books that freezes property taxes once the owner/resident reaches age 65. Don't know if it is a conty law or state law, but most probably county. My taxes will never go up nor will my propery be reappraised until either I sell or die. LOVE this area. Counting the annual $350 homestead exemption my yearly property taxes on 20 acres is $82.

Patt · #17 08/04/10, 10:29 PM

Ok I want to live in YOUR COUNTY! As far as I know they don't do that here in mine so it must be a county thing. Have to check into that.

Typent · #18 08/04/10, 11:06 PM

Navoti,

I read over your county's requirements to reach exemption, and I'm assuming this is the one that you're saying is causing you grief:

5. The net combined financial worth, including equitable interests, as of the thirty-first day of December of immediately preceding year, of the owners, and of the spouse of any owner, excluding the value of the dwelling and the land, not exceeding one acre, upon which it is situated, shall not exceed eighty thousand dollars.

If you run the risk of losing your property, you may want to look into to selling a portion of your land to drop below the $80,000 mark especially if you're close to it. Another possible suggestion, if you don't want to part with any of it, have you filed a will? If so, and you've chosen who your land goes to after you pass away, you could consider selling them enough to drop below the $80,000 mark for $1 with the idea that they won't do anything with it without your permission. I know it's not much of a solution, but if it's either trying to sell/move and getting established all over again elsewhere or losing your property vs. that, it's something to consider. The latter would be the better option as the first, unless you do something with the money, has you fail to qualify this exemption requirement:

4. The total combined income during the immediately preceding calendar year from all sources of the owners of the dwelling living therein and the owners relatives living in the dwelling, shall not exceed thirty thousand dollars, provided, that the first six thousand dollars of income of each relative, other than spouse, of the owner or owners, who is living in the dwelling shall not be included in such total.

I've been looking into the various aspects of your county's taxes, and sadly it seems very black and white. I'm not sure which part of Orange County you live in, but hopefully one of these people (or the main office listed at the bottom) can help: http://orangecountyva.gov/OCBOS/members.asp

Good luck.

Typent · #19 08/04/10, 11:49 PM

Decided to do a little more looking around on the subject and came across an article that may possibly benefit you (or anyone else wishing to protest their property appraisal).
http://www.lifestylesunlimited.com/h..._taxes_and_win

Navotifarm · #20 08/05/10, 01:28 AM

Typent, you said, "I read over your county's requirements to reach exemption..."
Would you mind tellling me where you found them so I can copy and print the whole thing to grapple with my mind?
That $80,000 is NUTS because I have three parcels and on each one, they set one acre as a house site valued at $80,000! Then I have an actual house (mobile home which banks and insurance agents do not consider a house) with well, septic, electricity, driveway etc which value they ADD to the $80,000. So no matter what property a person has in my county, if I understand what you said, NOBODY could have a property worth less than $80,000. I have 70 acres in three parcels, so that's $240,000 right there without any kind of dwelling or "improvement," and not counting the arbitrary value they assess the other 67 acres at. Of course my little home doesn't take up a whole acre but I was personally assured everybody is charged for one acre no matter what size the house (or non house) to be "fair."
You are right, I definitely need to sell some land but I worked all my life to get this land. It is a terrible grief to have to lose it because the taxes were jacked up, whether I sell it or they seize it and sell it.
Anyway, Typent, thanks for the helpful information. The supervisor for my district, recently elected, is quite a decent person. If only I can figure out what to say and write a lucid letter to her (and the others, one of whom is a retired wrecker driver) perhaps they will repair the gap in fairness and sanity in this $80,000 baseline.
And Palani, I did look at your website. I did do the Course in Miracles before these new people took it over. But I can't download 30 to 40 hours of audio tape on my little blackberry. Oy! Just thinking about it makes my (remaining) teeth hurt! Couldn't you just give a teensy precis as to how the living temple stuff is going to ward the sheriff from my door???